COLOMBO (NewsRadio); Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry has criticized certain claims made by Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau pertaining to Sri Lanka in the past and now about India.
In an interview with an Indian media outlet, Foreign Minister Sabry said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made outrageous claims in the past without providing any evidence to back them.
In response to the issue related to the murder of a Sikh leader in Canada, Minister Sabry said he is not surprised that Prime Minister Trudeau has come up with unsubstantiated claims.
He said Sri Lanka has suffered from terrorism immensely and some of the terrorists have found a safe haven in Canada.
The Foreign Minister said Sri Lanka had categorically rejected several claims made by Prime Minister Trudeau in relation to the conflict in Sri Lanka and pertaining to terrorists.
The bitter feud between India and Canada over the murder of a Sikh separatist has shown no signs of abating with the Indian government even suspending visa services for Canadians.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of being linked to the murder of a Sikh leader on Canadian soil, fuelling a significant rift between the two countries.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was born in the district of Jalandhar in the North Indian state of Punjab and moved to Canada in 1997.
Settled in the province of British Columbia, he made a name for himself as a vocal advocate for the creation of Khalistan – a separate homeland for Sikhs, who are a religious minority that makes up 2% of India’s population.
He had been labelled a terrorist by India, accused of, among other activities, being the “mastermind” behind the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), a banned militant group in the country.
He was 45 years old when he was shot dead by two masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple in a Vancouver suburb in June.
Those close to him have said he was warned by Canadian intelligence services before his death about threats to his safety.
India has always firmly denied any involvement in his killing, and called the allegations by Prime Minister Trudeau “absurd”.
Prime Minister Trudeau has not publicly revealed proof of Indian state involvement, and there are conflicting reports from Canada and India over what information has or has not been passed between them.
But in India, he was wanted under India’s Terrorist Act for several cases, including a 2007 cinema bombing in Punjab that killed six people and injured 40, and the 2009 assassination of Sikh Indian politician Rulda Singh.
